Thursday, November 03, 2011

NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

Name above All Names

11/3/2011

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9, 10a, 11. Why is the name which God placed above every name so often looked upon with disgust, animosity, and even hatred? Hatred toward the one who gave us life is beyond understanding. Yet even though God exalted His Son’s Name above all names it has become the most hated name in man’s history. I’m not taking about the most hated man in all man’s history, such as Adolf Hitler, but the most hated name above all names. In the United States of American you better think twice before mentioning the name of Jesus in the hallowed halls of academia. Mentioning Jesus’ name in public school as a visitor these days will get you a quick rebuke and if you are a student – detention and expulsion.

Why? What’s in a name anyway? Jesus, is a word translated from a Greek word “Iēsous” which means salvation. So Jesus’ name – a name we use every day (many times in the most derogatory manner) means salvation (our salvation). Most people hate the idea that they need to be saved so they reject the name of the one who wishes only to save them.

A huge majority of folks these days use the Lords name in the most disgusting manner. Jesus is coupled together with the word Christ to facilitate a revolting response to someone else’s angry and suggestive overture. Many times the name Jesus is used to express some annoyance or dissatisfaction. Jesus is used many times by many people who ignorantly go through life with little to no understanding of what they are doing by bantering about the name that God hath highly exalted and placed above all names.

Why don’t people use the name of Mohammad, or Buddha, or even one of the many names attributed to God’s adversary such as Lucifer, Satan, or Baal to express all the filth associated with our imaginations? Why is the name Jesus, which God elevated above all other names for His glory, made to be the brunt of so many filthy conversations these days? We can attribute the reasons for all these unholy expressions of anger and annoyance to two main categories – ignorance and hate.

Hate can be explained in many ways, but the main reason people hate Jesus is because of His most exclusive words. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. Jesus proclaimed to His disciples that there was only one way to get into Heaven and that was through Him (Jesus). Basically, Jesus was only reiterating what He had previously proclaimed “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Only through Him (the Son of God) can a person enter Heaven. This statement of Jesus’, for many people, is beyond ridiculous. How can God condemn so many people to Hell just because they believe in an alternative path to Him? After all, we can see that many people want to get to God, they just don’t want to go through God to get to God. They don’t see Jesus as God; interestingly, even though many will see Jesus as God’s Son they don’t equate the two as one.

Let’s be right up front here. There are no paths to Heaven. There is only one way to Heaven and that way was just explained above. The thought of many “paths” is encouraging to a wide variety of folks who are obsessed with being politically correct. This pervasive mindset doesn’t allow for such exclusivity as we see in the Christian faith. The minds of many have been so thoroughly deceived that they believe the lie of the enemy that many roads (paths) lead to God. In all actuality they do all lead to God, but not the way these folks would like to believe. Everyone who continues to believe in the lie which points to many alternative paths to God while rejecting His Son will one day stand before the very God they’ve rejected, Jesus the Christ. It will only be as a hearing, though, for their final judgment which will relegate them to an existence without the presence of God for all of eternity, which is Hell. Sadly, when they finally realize their mistake it will be too late.

Still others hate Him and His name because He was born Jewish, and we know that many people and even whole nations this world over hate the Jews and have for centuries. God entered His creation and became a Jewish man, fulfilling many prophecies. That truth is repugnant to those who have a deep-seated hatred for the Jews. Therefore that hatred continues into the supernatural. People hate Jesus and His name not even realizing that He is their God -- the only God of all eternity.

Most won’t accept the truth about Jesus the Christ during their lifetime. Many multitudes will continue to lash out in hatred and ignorance at the one who would freely give them everlasting life, the one who loves them beyond compare. The name of Jesus is horribly mistreated by a mass of people who see Him as just another man. Some don’t even believe He ever really existed. Some hate Him so much that they will go to any length to explain Him away. Sadly, many of these folks will die carrying that mindset of hate with them to the grave and beyond.

The other category, ignorance, is where many people reside. They remain in the bliss of their ignorance, never wishing to disrupt the lives they’ve made for themselves by intertwining themselves with the foolish tradition of men. “The Bible was written by men therefore it is only of men not of God.” This misconception of God’s word has and will have a very detrimental effect on a large portion of humanity before the end. In this enlightened post-modern world, many people believe they’ve risen above the need for a God. These days, the enlightened crowd considers anything that has to do with God simply manmade, pure superstition. If a person were to casually mention the name Jesus in the presence of one of these enlightened folks they would soon realize the brunt of their mistake as almost immediately there would come a pounce on that person like an attacking lioness protecting her cubs.

Many people today have been taught the lie of evolution to the exclusion of all other very real possibilities. These people believe that evolution is the catalyst which has propelled humanity into the 21st century. These same folks are fully convinced that all religions, including Christianity, are built on nothing more than foolish fantasies, excluding of course their own religion of secular humanism. Now that the populous has been enlightened with the idea that there is no absolute truth and the time of “reason” has been established, they can now say there is no God with complete impunity. Their zeal is unfettered as they trample on the Name above all names – Jesus the Christ, the only way to the Father.

Perhaps the two categories of hate and ignorance are more intertwined than we perceive. Here’s a recent headline taken from the WND website “Jesus’ name ruled unconstitutional, Judge says prayers to Christ do violence to America's pluralistic, inclusive values.” This attempt to bury the Name that God has exalted above all names is fraught with evil. Satan is the one who is behind every attempt to rid mankind of their Creator’s Name. But his attempts will always be fruitless as we who are Christ’s followers are still here reminding the unbelievers that Jesus is the Name above all names, and that He is the only way of salvation.

Obviously many will remain in their progressive state of ignorance, standing firm in their contempt for the one true God while they continually drag His Name through the filthiness of their grossly flawed minds. There are many reasons why Jesus’ name is so infused in the culture of hate today, some of which are due in part to those of His followers. Sometimes Christians can be their own worst enemies. If we study our Bibles we learn that we aren’t to be argumentative or abrasive when it comes to our interactions with non-believers, but we are to be as the Apostle Paul admonishes “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:3-5. Lowliness of mind means that we are to be humble servants of the most High God, Jesus the Christ. We are to address the unbelievers with the mind of Christ who, when addressing the non-believing world, did so with love and compassion not strife or vainglory.

Does it infuriate you when Jesus’ name is used in vain? Think about how God sees those who use His name thusly. Does it infuriate Him? No. He loves them, and He understands better than the rest of us how powerful the enemy is. God wants us to love those who mistreat us and who drag the name of our Savior and Lord through the mud. And when we witness to them we might convince them that the Name they are showing so much disrespect for is indeed the Creator of the universe, and He loves them and is ready to forgive them all their trespasses. If only they will believe.

One day, very soon now, all knees will bow and all tongues will confess that the Name so many willfully abuse is the Name of the Judge of the universe. Jesus the Christ is God Almighty and without exception no matter how people treat His name He loves them all. But God’s word is true, only those who’ve placed their faith and trust in Him and Him alone for their salvation will avoid that Judgment Throne. The rest will be relegated to a place that is filled with fire and brimstone.

Let’s talk to these folks with the love of Christ in our hearts, after all some might just believe and be saved. Talk to them in a manner that they perceive to be argumentative and full of vainglory and they will not respond to His name with any semblance of love and affection. Let’s help all we can to rid them of the hate they profess toward Jesus our Savior God. We can help educate those who are ignorant to who He is. We, His Church, can be the light that so many are looking for in this dark world, which is just about to end, as we promote the truth about the one who has been assigned the Name above all Names. Jesus!